MQS Management LLC Acquires New Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,763 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APAM. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth $239,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,149 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 642 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth about $236,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $43.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.45. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.12 and a 52 week high of $46.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 1.79.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $270.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 22.75% and a return on equity of 71.76%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.60%. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.59%.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc is publicly owned investment manager. It provides its services to pension and profit sharing plans, trusts, endowments, foundations, charitable organizations, government entities, private funds and non-U.S. funds, as well as mutual funds, non-U.S. funds and collective trusts.